Shopping for home goods an afterthought

The government's retail sales figures suggest that when it comes to ringing cash registers at stores peddling housing-related stuff, the consumer spark has been relatively modest.

My benchmark for measuring the housing halo is national retail sales figures for the first half of
the year – comparing overall spending at all stores to activity at merchants of key goods tied to housing. Overall, my trusty spreadsheet – filled with Census Bureau nationwide retailing data – tells me American shoppers spent a record $2.516 trillion with retailers in 2013's first six months.

Yes, retail spending is back at an all-time high and that's up 4.3 percent from 2012's first half. You probably haven't heard much about peak-level shopping because skeptics of the broad economic rebound argue that this year's consumer spending growth is the slowest in what's been a four-year shopping recovery from the Great Recession.

Housing is part of that sluggishness. To track housing's slice of the shopping oomph, I looked at three retailing categories linked to people spending to fix up their residences. You can see progress, but sales still lag peaks of the past decade:

Furnishings and furniture: Shoppers spent $154 billion at stores selling these decorating goods in the first half. That's up 5.2 percent from a year ago. It's the third consecutive year-over-year gain – but it's 11 percent behind 2006's pinnacle.

Building and gardening supplies: Americans bought $49.6 billion worth in the first half, that's up 2.9 percent from 2012 – and the fourth consecutive gain. Still, spending is 12 percent below 2006's high.

Electronics and appliances: Merchants made $50 billion in sales in the first half – basically the same pace seen for four consecutive years. Sales in this category, however, may be understated. Government figures don't show how much of these purchases consumers made online – that corner of the shopping game is handled in one broad category. Plus, a good deal of this sluggishness is rapidly declining costs of TVs and other electronics – or tablets vs. laptops. Still, it appears few people are using those savings to, say, buy another sofa to be a couch potato on.

All told, my proxy for housing-related shopping was up 3.7 percent in the first half vs. 2012. That looks tame when you ponder shoppers spending on all other needs was up 4.4 percent vs. 2012's first half.

Or look at the $254 billion spent at stores helping to fix or redo homes this way: it was 10.1 percent of American shopping in 2013's first six months. Not only is that well off from 2006's peak – when this housing spending was 13.2 percent of all shopping – it's down from the 11.7 percent averaged since 1992.

Consumers clearly went overboard spending on real estate goods and supplies during an obviously unsustainable run-up in home values in the middle of the past decade.

The ensuing correction in home prices pruned real estate-related shopping – seemingly by an overcorrected amount. Even homebuying's recent strength leaves shopping for home improvements looking like an afterthought.

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